Glad Sweden finally caught up! Hungarian scientist Katalin Karikó, PhD, was one of the foremost researchers into the possibilities of mRNA, and her work, along with that of her collaborator, immunologist Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, formed the basis of what became the first COVID-19 vaccines. We honored her as one of Glamour, and it only took two years for the Nobel Committee get with the program: Dr. Karikó and Dr. Weissman have just been awarded science’s highest honor (the Nobel Prize in medicine; there are other Nobel Prizes given for other disciplines).
“Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the panel that awarded the prize said, per the Associated Press.
The daughter of a butcher and a bookkeeper, Dr. Karikó has never been one for the spotlight and was reticent to dwell on how her gender or background might have impacted her career. In her Woman of the Year profile, she was more interested in talking about the research, a topic she will discuss with anyone—literally—who writes to her with a question about vaccines. “The distance between what the average person is knowing about the vaccine and what the science is? The gap is huge,” she said. “Scientists have to learn: You are also a translator.”
In the same piece, Dr. Karikó aptly described all that can be learned from so-called failures, which are in fact the key to scientific experimentation. “Even when [an experiment] is not going [as planned], it is just as exciting. It is unexpected. What could be causing this result? Could it be this? Could it be that?…you get a result which cannot be explained. You keep reading!”
Oh, also, she raised a daughter who now has two Olympic gold medals. Casual!
Congratulations, Katalin Karikó!
